10-11-2021, 07:03 PM
Hadn't had the stomach to return to Minersville since we slaughtered them on the fly rods this spring (and ever spring before that). I knew it would be a 
sight seeing the low water levels and fish kill off...and it was. We camped there over the weekend, and the weather was beautiful. My oldest daughter and I set out on the kayaks the first evening and immediately hooked into two very large and powerful Wipers...they are so fun! My daughter was able to get hers up to the kayak after a long battle, but I had the net and was nearly to her when it regained some strength and made one last run and broker her off. We were bummed we didn't get a pic, but it was around 6 lbs or so. My Wiper hit me and gave some awesome drag-screaming runs and then came unbuttoned. As soon as we had hooked those two fish, they disappeared, as wipers tend to do...always moving. We ended up with no trout that evening, we threw everything at them too...including fly fishing. Water was very off-colored and very shallow. Next day I went back out to try and recreate the wipers, but after hours of casting and trolling, nothing....did manage 3 healthy 17" bows coming back into the ramp on a kastmaster. While I was over cruising the damn, I saw an old guy knocking the trout dead on powerbait. Now, I'm not one to ever throw powerbait, but I will if it's the last resort for my kids to catch some fish. So, went back to the camper, got the kids (I have 3 girls) and the wife and we made the hike over the damn and got 3 poles in the water. It was non-stop action from that point on until we had to leave. The kids had a blast! The fish fought hard, just like the always do there. All the fish were 15-17", fat and sassy. As I suspected, the lower water and warm temps killed the biggins off first, and the younger classes have mostly pulled through to this point. Loved seeing a lot of snow up on the peaks above Beaver, just hope it continues through the winter and into the spring so we can start the many year process of getting these fisheries back. It was beautiful up there though.
![[Image: 20211010-150552.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/Hcq8jLLz/20211010-150552.jpg)
sight seeing the low water levels and fish kill off...and it was. We camped there over the weekend, and the weather was beautiful. My oldest daughter and I set out on the kayaks the first evening and immediately hooked into two very large and powerful Wipers...they are so fun! My daughter was able to get hers up to the kayak after a long battle, but I had the net and was nearly to her when it regained some strength and made one last run and broker her off. We were bummed we didn't get a pic, but it was around 6 lbs or so. My Wiper hit me and gave some awesome drag-screaming runs and then came unbuttoned. As soon as we had hooked those two fish, they disappeared, as wipers tend to do...always moving. We ended up with no trout that evening, we threw everything at them too...including fly fishing. Water was very off-colored and very shallow. Next day I went back out to try and recreate the wipers, but after hours of casting and trolling, nothing....did manage 3 healthy 17" bows coming back into the ramp on a kastmaster. While I was over cruising the damn, I saw an old guy knocking the trout dead on powerbait. Now, I'm not one to ever throw powerbait, but I will if it's the last resort for my kids to catch some fish. So, went back to the camper, got the kids (I have 3 girls) and the wife and we made the hike over the damn and got 3 poles in the water. It was non-stop action from that point on until we had to leave. The kids had a blast! The fish fought hard, just like the always do there. All the fish were 15-17", fat and sassy. As I suspected, the lower water and warm temps killed the biggins off first, and the younger classes have mostly pulled through to this point. Loved seeing a lot of snow up on the peaks above Beaver, just hope it continues through the winter and into the spring so we can start the many year process of getting these fisheries back. It was beautiful up there though.